Leftovers Top Agendas In Valley

January 03, 1995|The Morning Call

The start of a new year is a good time to take stock of what was left unfinished in the old year. Around the Lehigh Valley, here are some leftovers that should go to the head of the list of local government priorities.

*Allentown City Council: In cooperation with the administration of Mayor William Heydt, the members of Council must resolve the case of suspended officer Thomas Siteman. The allegations of abuse of power against him are too serious to permit him to return to the force by default, which is the outcome left looming at the end of the year. The administration, City Council and Mr. Siteman's lawyers all share blame for 15 months of delays. The law requires City Council to hold a hearing, so get on with it.

*Allentown School Board: Thanks to an opportunity presented by the federal Crime Bill, school directors can begin an experiment in making the schools safer. If the board

puts up the local share of the money, community police officers can be added to Allentown's force and assigned to school neighborhoods. Sadly, the physical safety of children and staff has become an important educational concern. The board must move quickly to meet funding deadlines.

*Bethlehem City Council: City Hall got a Christmas-season gift from the state in the form of a permit to begin burying industrial waste along with household garbage in its landfill in Lower Saucon Township. The state's approval of this venture was needed to make it economically feasible for Bethlehem to stay in the landfill business. However, Bethlehem is a long way from actually making this sideline work, and the environmental wisdom of adding "near hazardous" waste to a landfill that already has polluted neighbors' wells is not clear. This year, it will take close scrutiny to stay on this tight rope.

*Bucks County Commissioners: Bucks County owes its property owners a county-wide reassessment for the purpose of making real estate taxes more consistent. The last reassessment took place almost 22 years ago, in 1973. There's been no shortage of excuses for not doing the politically unpopular, but the commissioners can make 1995 the year they stood up and did the right thing.

*East Penn School District: The wildest roller-coaster ride south of Dorney Park has been the fate of the district's building plans. The new year moves East Penn into the eighth year of struggling with plans to accommodate the needs of a growing enrollment. It appears that a compromise in September set the district on a $77 million building program. How this will affect elementary schools is expected to be decided later this month. Hold on to your hats.

*Easton City Hall: Of the three local cities, Easton starts the new year with the brightest hope for downtown renewal, as construction of the new Two Rivers Landing visitors center is to start by April. The excitement it will bring to the Centre Square area will be dogged through 1995 by the gloomy prospects for the deteriorating Alpha Building and the uncertain future of the Hotel Easton. City Hall can't fix these problems itself, but City Council and Mayor Thomas Goldsmith must continue to see and address the big picture downtown.

*Lehigh County: When Governor Casey was handing out money at the end of 1994 for local projects, some inside Lehigh County government felt let down. Northampton County got $5 million for the Ballyard and Monroe County got $3.8 million for a youth soccer complex. Lehigh County would like some progress on the Route 222 bypass west of Allentown. Local governments and private sources already have put up $500,000 for preliminary studies, and the project is near the top of PennDOT's 12-year plan. The environmental impact statement will have to be finished by the end of July to get bypass construction started by 1997. This year, the jammed-up western part of the county needs the pieces to start falling into place.

*Northampton County: If these folks don't get moving, they are going to be the very last of Pennsylvania's counties with an approved 911 emergency telephone plan. Political bickering and a power struggle between County Council and the executive clouded all of the issues last year, and the task for 1995 is to adopt not the best possible system, but one that is politically do-able.

*Regional cooperation: No one elected body can carry out this resolution, but together, good things can be accomplished. A place to start is for the counties to work seriously on mental-health care, a valley-wide health bureau, regional economic development and a convention center. The next 12 months may not be enough time to accomplish even one of these. But 363 days are left in 1995, long enough to take the first genuine steps.